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"He looked a little needy. He asked if I had any mayonnaise and some tarter sauce. He said he was going to cook a fish.'
The man whose job it is to be friendly, obliged. 'I got it for him. As he walked out I put a corn muffin in.'
That gesture cost Joe his job. 'The General Manager called me in and said he had some bad news for me. Joe we are going to have to let you go.'
Joe says that he has been written up before for what sound like the most trivial of things.
Once he was reprimanded for getting a fountain drink on the job and on a second occasion he gave a cup of coffee to woman, which he claims he paid for.
He admits that rues are rules. 'It's a rule. They legally can do this because I did break the rule. I completely forgot about it. I am a host at Cracker Barrel with a little above minimum wage job.'
His firing wasn't the result of this single incident; he had been written up numerous times before this. The only reason this article has gained any traction is that he's an elderly military veteran... if this had been a high school student in some other generic town, this wouldn't even have made the local paper.
I agree that managers should use discretion, and in this case, they did. What jobs have you all had where they'd let you stay on after being written up five times? I feel bad for the guy, but I don't find this situation too outrageous.
Also, I can't condone the type of internet psuedo-vigilantism that results from this sort of thing. You're entitled to your opinions, but ruining reviews for a place you've never been to with your opinions on ethics doesn't help anyone.
His firing wasn't the result of this single incident; he had been written up numerous times before this. The only reason this article has gained any traction is that he's an elderly military veteran... if this had been a high school student in some other generic town, this wouldn't even have made the local paper.
I agree that managers should use discretion, and in this case, they did. What jobs have you all had where they'd let you stay on after being written up five times? I feel bad for the guy, but I don't find this situation too outrageous.
Also, I can't condone the type of internet psuedo-vigilantism that results from this sort of thing. You're entitled to your opinions, but ruining reviews for a place you've never been to with your opinions on ethics doesn't help anyone.
I've eaten at Cracker Barrel more than a few times, and I've held the highest corporate position. I am very comfortable in corporate boardrooms.
When an organization's ethics or policies collides with morality, judgment comes into play.
Nothing beats good judgment, nothing.
If I were to counsel the GM on this fallout, I would recognize them for being a good policy junkie. However, I would not recognize them for the quality of their discretionary judgment in this case.
Managers need to exercise discretion, and this is absolutely true for General Managers. Joe didn't do anything that would benefit him.
The most I would have done is to have had a private conversation with Joe on the company's policy that relates to this incident and what is behind it.
This incident will almost assuredly cost Cracker Barrel far more in customer goodwill and revenue than it will save the company in theft reduction.
People in positions of power really need to be maze bright, not maze dumb.
Well I won't be going to Cracker Barrel ever again....
Not that I am someone who gives to random homeless people;
but I have, in the past helped people who desperately needed it.
Whether it was something to eat, or giving them a ride somewhere,
or even letting them sleep on my couch....
It's heartless that a major corporation such as Cracker Barrel
can't afford to give away a stinkin' muffin.
I remember years back when my kids were really little...
It was a severe snowstorm here, roads were closed everything was shut down...and I was heading to the hospital w/ my little ones because my newborn baby was in the hospital with complications.....
I realized the kids were gonna need something to eat,
so we went into Subway & ordered what they wanted.
The people there really cared...they must've seen the stress on my face...
they asked where we were heading & what was going on...
Then they told the kids to pick out whatever else they wanted & gave it all to us free of charge.
The entire order easily was about $20- but it left me in awe...that some people really do have good hearts.
We used to give away Starbucks mark-out to the homeless at the end of the day. Then they told us to stop.
So we did.
We asked them how to avoid waste, and it seems we weren't the only ones. Now there is a long-standing company-wide policy arranging to donate mark-out through designated shelters. (At least, there was last time I checked.)
He needs to pay for it and show proof that he bought it himself. Claiming that he paid or it isn't enough.
No raindrop ever considers itself to be responsible for the flood. However, this vet had put in three quality years and was only guilty of but a few raindrop equivalent happenings, to which he admitted.
Have you never used a company's expensive IT resources system on a short personal matter and/or do you not have or do you not use on your personal behalf anything that came from a company that employed you, such as: pens, pencils, paper, folders, etc..
Do you always reimburse a company when you use their resources on your behalf?
I bet most of us have given money or goods to homeless people. That, however, is not the issue here.
Sure, "Vet gets fired for giving homeless man a muffin" sounds better than "Cracker Barrel fires employee for giving away food for the sixth time," but it doesn't represent the truth. He had other infractions, and CB was well within their right to fire him. Apparently, the employee doesn't want to follow rules or doesn't think they should apply to him. He's not the boss.
BTW, I know this is all the rage today, but his being a veteran does not entitle him to flout the rules of his employer. We're a military family, and I'm sick and tired of seeing "veteran" in every story as if it's a qualifier. Veterans are not (and have no desire to be) the latest victim class in this country.
The employer gets to decide how little is too little, or how much is too much. In this case, the Cracker Barrel manager had apparently decided pretty much any free food was too much. Maybe he didn't want his store being treated like a soup kitchen, attracting everyone with a sad story.
If the fired employee had been a used car salesman and was fired for giving away a minivan to a single mom with 5 kids, the result would be the same. If the dealer wants to give away a vehicle to someone who needs it, fine, but it's not up to the employees. Same case with Cracker Barrel, just a different product that was given away.
If my employer has a policy on using their resources for personal reasons (and they do), then I am obligated to follow that policy. Even if the "cost" to the company is very small.
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